Arranged chronologically with an alphabetical index to the names of many correspondents.

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Consists of letters by and to Gettell. Most of the correspondence is with individuals invited to present Commencement or Convocation addresses and receive honorary degrees. These documents include a letter from James Thurber (March 29, 1960) declining an honorary degree and referring to his wife Helen Wismer Class of 1924. Other correspondence is with Mount Holyoke trustees, alumnae, faculty, staff, students, and parents of students as well as with friends and colleagues. There is a letter from the College Physician, Dr. Carol Craig (March 17, 1967) describing her experiences on leave while working in a hospital in Da Nang Vietnam during the Vietnam War. Letters to students by Gettell including one concerning a change in required chapel regulations (July 30,1958) and another thanking those who awarded him an "honorary degree of Hall Residency" (April 30, 1964). Many letters written from September 1967-November 1968 respond to a ten-year report that Gettell wrote concerning the College or thank him for his service as President. A partial index to Gettell's correspondence is part of this series.

Arranged chronologically

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Consists of speeches and articles by Gettell, including his inaugural address, "A Plea for the Uncommon Woman" (November 9, 1957). Many speeches from 1957-1958 were presented at "gatherings" of the Mount Holyoke College community at which he spoke about a topic of interest, then presented a faculty or administrator who continued the discussion. Other speeches from those years and later were presented at Convocation, chapel services, incoming freshmen, senior breakfasts, meetings of alumnae, faculty meetings, at conferences of educators and others, and to members of organizations such as the Rotary Club and the First Congregational Church of South Hadley, MA. Topics of these writings included an increase in student fees (November 19, 1957), violations of rules concerning the use of library materials (April 29, 1958), "The Science Directed World as a Background for the Arts" (February 14, 1959), changes in regulations for students' social behavior (May 14, 1963), "The Academic, Social, and Spiritual Program at Mount Holyoke College" (October 3, 1964), "Modern Women and Community Leadership" (May 6, 1965), and "What Price Coeducation?" (March 30, 1967). There are also several speeches about Mount Holyoke's history and needs that he gave in 1962 during the College's "Fund for the Future" campaign and copies of his Seventeen magazine article from February, 1966 entitled "The Age of Discretion" with related correspondence.

Arranged by form of material, then chronologically

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Gettell established this committee in 1962 to develop a "statement of sensible principles in regard to the social regulations" for Mount Holyoke students. Members of the committee from the College community were trustees Robert E. Barrett Jr. and Eleanor Greene Rogers (Class of 1924); philosophy professor Roger W. Holmes; Margery S. Foster, the Secretary of the College; Leta Kirk Rymer, Assistant Academic Dean; Ruth W. Yerrall, a staff member in the Scholarship Office and Head Resident of Pearsons Hall; and students Anne O. Eastman (Class of 1963), Jeane Stewart (Class of 1964), and Ann E. Zelle (Class of 1965). Other Mount Holyoke administrators, an alumna named Ruth Vars (Class of 1961), a practicing psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, and guest speakers from Amherst, Barnard, Oberlin, Radcliffe, and Smith Colleges also participated in some meetings of the committee.

The records consist of minutes and agenda correspondence (including a letter from 1961 to Mount Holyoke's Dean of Residence about social regulations at Dartmouth College), questionnaires, student opinions and questions, statements by committee members, and reports. The reports also include copies of documents concerning social regulations at many other colleges and universities in the United States and numerous newspaper and magazine articles about the morals and sexual behavior of college students. Topics discussed by committee members include the Mount Holyoke Honor Code; the role of social regulations in a residential college for women and the amount of responsibility that the College should assume for the behavior of students; the relation between these regulations and the quality of academic work; premarital sexual relations and the use of birth control by students; and possible improvements to campus facilities used by students for social purposes.

Arranged Chronologically

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This program was established in 1963 by eleven women's colleges in the United States with the financial support of the United States Department of State and the Danforth Foundation. The purposes of the program, which focused on the exchange of faculty and staff members at women's colleges in each country, were to increase mutual understanding of the people and cultures of each country and "develop bonds of friendship and continuing institutional relationships" among these schools. Mount Holyoke joined the program in October of 1963 and ended its participation in February, 1968. Lorraine Benner, Director of the Gorse Child Study Center and Associate Professor of Psychology and Education, participated in the program by spending her sabbatical year, 1964-1965, at Women's Christian College in Madras, India. Principals and presidents of several women's colleges in India visited Mount Holyoke between 1965-1967. Fatima Sheja'at, a sociologist from Osmania University College for women, was a Visiting Lecturer in the Economics and Sociology Department during the second semester of the 1965-1966 academic year.

These records consist of a proposal to the Danforth Foundation and a "Statement of Policy and Procedures" that describe the goals and administration of this program, minutes and agenda, correspondence, memoranda, reports, financial records, schedules, brochures, articles, applications, letters of recommendation, and the contract for Benner's work. The materials document the activities of the program and the experiences of participants.

Arranged alphabetically by subject

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These files contain minutes, correspondence, reports, the text of remarks by Gettell and others, financial records, statistics, programs, charts, lists, schedules, memoranda, press releases, and articles. Many files relate to campus facilities and finances such as minutes, reports, and a survey documenting the work of the College's Committee on Space (1956-1960); correspondence, reports, and financial records for the "Fund for the Future," the fund-raising campaign held in conjunction with the celebration of the College's one hundred twenty-fifth anniversary (1961-1965); minutes, proposals, correspondence, reports, lists, charts, and financial records for the $2.5 million challenge grant the College received in June, 1962 to support improvements to faculty salaries and financial aid for students, the purchase of library books and scientific equipment, a revision of the College's curriculum, and the rehabilitation of buildings and grounds; and analyses of salaries for Mount Holyoke faculty. Administrators, laboratory instructors, graduate assistants, and teaching assistants, 1959/1960-1968/1969, prepared for the Board of Trustees, with information about fringe benefits for employees, copies of the College's budget and a report entitled "On the Financial Prospects for Higher Education," published in the AAUP Bulletin (Summer 1968).

Other files contain minutes, correspondence, summaries of seminars, reports, the text of speeches and other remarks, and press releases about conferences and other events at Mount Holyoke and elsewhere, such as meetings of the Seven College Conference (1954-1968); the Academic Programs Abroad conference (January, 1960), a National Conference on Undergraduate Study Abroad (October, 1960), and the twenty-fifth anniversary celebration of the Women Marines who trained at Mount Holyoke during World War II (May, 1968).

There is also correspondence, minutes, proposals, financial records, memoranda, articles, and lists documenting cooperative efforts among the "Four Colleges" (Amherst, Mount Holyoke, and Smith Colleges and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst), 1955-1968. These materials include information about the Four College academic programs and courses and the creation of "the New College" (Hampshire College) which was established in 1965 and opened in 1970.

Another file contains the manuscript of Gettell's remarks at the College's memorial service for President John F. Kennedy November, 1963, with the text of the scripture reading on that occasion, a petition from students asking Mount Holyoke's administration to formally recognize the assassination in some way, and a thank you note from those students.

Arranged by form of material, then chronologically

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Consists of minutes and agenda, correspondence, reports, announcements, guest lists, congratulatory citations, speeches, programs, and newspaper clippings about the inauguration ceremony held for Gettell on November 9, 1957. Includes a speech by Massachusetts governor Foster Furcolo and addresses by Irving Dillard, Archibald MacLeish, Mark Van Doren, and Jessamyn West, participants in a symposium on "Words are Responsibilities."

Arranged Chronologically

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Records Gettell's appointments for meetings and events at Mount Holyoke. Also includes references to his recreational activities and vacations.

Arranged chronologically

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Consists of press releases and newspaper clippings documenting Gettell's activities as President of Mount Holyoke and events during his tenure. Includes editorials from local newspapers discussing his qualifications for the position and performance and a copy of Choragos (the student newspaper) of November 14, 1968 containing students' reactions to his resignation.

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Consists of a 16mm, twenty-five minute color film of an interview of Gettell by Marty Camp of KOMO-TV in Seattle, Washington filmed in 1962 as part of a series of programs called "What's New in the Schoolhouse? Young Women in Today's College World."

Arranged by content, then chronologically

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Consists of images of Gettell's inaugural ceremony in November, 1957; formal and informal photographs of Gettell alone or with Mount Holyoke trustees, students, faculty, staff, alumnae, and visitors; and photographs documenting his participation in the College's commencement activities and other events including a conference on campus about the employment problems of women (March, 1962) and the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Women Marines who trained at Mount Holyoke during World War II (May, 1968). Also includes a photograph of Gettell as the "Queen of Hearts and Flowers" in the 1968 Faculty Show and photographs of Landonia Gettell, members of the Colleges swimming team in 1968, and Mount Holyoke trustee Robert Wise with his wife Esther.